MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday permitted 751 engineering students of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) to appear for their third and fourth year examinations scheduled from May 20, despite having backlogs in their first and second years, respectively.
A vacation bench of justices Gautam A Ankhad and Sandesh D Patil said under the “carry on” policy introduced by the state government last year, the students had already been allowed to enroll in the third and fourth years despite backlogs in earlier years; hence, they deserved interim protection to avoid academic prejudice at the eleventh hour.
The court directed the university to accept and verify the students’ examination forms within 24 hours to ensure that they were able to appear for the exams.
The 751 engineering students had moved the high court on May 13, challenging the SPPU’s decision to defer the examination of provisionally admitted students till the high court decided on a clutch of earlier petitions regarding the “carry on” policy.
The government resolution (GR) regarding the policy was issued on February 10, 2025, granting an additional opportunity to students with first and second year backlogs to provisionally enroll in the third and fourth years, respectively.
On August 8, 2025, the SPPU issued a circular, allowing all engineering students who had some backlogs in their first and second years to provisionally enrol in the third year and fourth years, respectively. Accordingly, all 751 current petitioners were permitted to appear for exams for the backlog subjects in October 2025, and they passed the same.
Meanwhile, one student with backlogs filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, seeking direction to the university to grant him benefit of provisional admission in the subsequent academic year, as per the circular. Some more students moved the high court later, seeking permission to appear for third and fourth year exams, stating that they had already availed the benefit of the circular and cleared their backlogs in October 2025.
The high court, on November 11, 2025, directed the university not to implement the “carry on” policy for that academic year, but ordered the results of the students, who had been granted benefit of the scheme, be declared. It also allowed the petitioners to fill the examination forms and appear for their third and fourth year exams.
However, on April 10 and May 5 this year, the SPPU issued circulars stating the examination of provisionally admitted students would be conducted after the decision of the high court.
In their petition, the 751 students alleged the university had, “completely contrary” to the high court’s earlier order, denied them permission to fill their third and fourth year exam forms. The university had only allowed those students to fill the exam forms who were represented before the high court in earlier petitions, the petitioners clarified.
Advocate Pooja Thorat, appearing for some of the students, argued that they had secured provisional admissions to the third and fourth year courses and had attended lectures, practicals and other academic activities required for completion of the academic term.
Taking note of earlier orders, the court observed that the students deserved interim protection and clarified that their appearance in the examinations and the declaration of their results would remain subject to the final outcome of the earlier petition and the ultimate adjudication on the legality and applicability of the “carry on” system.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 20.